14 Sep 2009 |
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Zone the Super Eagles job to an expatriate until 2020 By Ayo Akinfe As we grieve over the passing of Chief Gani Fawehinmi, that icon of fairness and meritocracy, every Nigerian, ranging from those who he fought for and those who he fought against, are queuing up to pay him tribute. Like very few Nigerians, Chief Fawenhinmi was one man whose support cut across all six geo-political zones. It is the matter of zoning I want to discuss today. Growing up in a cosmopolitan environment, I struggled to get to grips with the ethnic mindset of many Nigerians but as an adult I believe I have finally come to grips with the matter. Basically, we have a federation that is an amalgam of several independent nation states prior to colonisation and to breed trust and abate suspicion, appointments need to be made in an inclusive manner that makes everyone feel part of the project. Looking at the way the European Union (EU) organises itself with two commissioners from every country, the rotation of the presidency among its constituent parts and the spreading of agencies across each member, I see the logic of zoning. It took us a while to get used to the practise in Nigeria but I am pleased that we have now got the hang of it and are going about implementing it with some degree of sensitivity. To make everyone feel Nigerian, we have split the country into six zones and in all our appointments at federal level, each zone is guaranteed effective representation. Sometimes, merit has to be sacrificed for the sake of realpolitik as we seek to carry everyone along. If the nation is in flames, a meritorious public servant will not have the necessary conducive atmosphere to get anything done. As we have finally got ourselves to accept that some posts have to be zoned to certain parts of the country come what may, I ask myself why we cannot go further and concede that there are some positions that need to be zoned to an expatriate if we want the job done properly. For me, only one job comes to mind where being an expatriate should be a pre-requisite and that is the position of head coach of the Super Eagles. After our recent experiences with the likes of Christian Chukwu, Adegboye Onigbinde and Amodu Shaibu, this point should not need any further clarification but alas, given that we are still in a state of shock following our inability to beat Tunisia, I think it should be spelt out. We have failed to qualify for two World Cups in a row. In 2002, when we last went to the Mundial, we ended up rock bottom of our group with a solitary point. To put it crudely, none of our indigenous coaches are up to the job of managing the Super Eagles and will not be so for a while. It is no accident that our football has taken a huge downturn since we decided to start employing local coaches after the success we enjoyed under foreign ones in the 1990s. Those of us who talk to the players know what they think about indigenous coaches. Although I do not think the derision they come out with is necessary, I can understand their frustration when having worked with top coaches like Wenger, Ancelloti, Mourinho, Capello, Lippi, etc, they suddenly have to deal with the likes of Amodu, whose ideas are some 10 years behind modern developments. Until we have trained up our local coaches sufficiently for the players to have faith in them, they should not be allowed within 100km of the team. Sufficient training for me includes playing at the highest level, coaching at the highest level, rising to become the head coach of a major European clubside and visiting that continent at least once a month to keep abreast with developments there. Amodu is even the best of a bad bunch. Chukwu used line-ups and tactics from the Westerhoff era, while Onigbinde’s game plans were most likely copied verbatim from Father Tiko. Looking at how amateurish Amodu’s tactics were against Tunisia, I am still perplexed as to why Nigerians think we had a right to win that match. That game against Tunisia was not a one-off. We have not played any better than that in any of our games since the World Cup qualifiers begun. The simple truth of the matter is that the luck we have been enjoying so far ran out on that fateful day in the National Stadium in Abuja. This tag of being the giant of Africa has got to our heads to such an extent that it makes us do certain crazy and self-destructive things. How dare a nation where all its players are plying their trade in Europe even dream of appointing a coach who is not managing at that level to handle its national team. I am a big fan of Samson Siasia and believe he deserves a lot of praise for his management of the U-21 and U-23 teams but I can tell you now that he will have the same problems Onigbinde, Chukwu and Amodu have had with the senior boys. They will simply refuse to give their all for a local coach and will question his tactics based on the fact that he has not coached at their level before. No amount of planning, funding, organisation or searching for talent can replace sound tactics on the training pitch. If we are serious about reviving our football fortunes, we have to be honest and admit that not one of the 150m Nigerians out there is suited to being the Super Eagles head coach. Besides, if the job of senate president is zoned to the north central zone throughout the tenure of the Yar’Adua presidency and the speakership is zoned to the south-west, irrespective of who is best qualified for these jobs, it is tantamount to double standard to dismiss the zoning of one job to an expatriate. Incidentally, all of our neighbours are aware of this, which is why the likes of Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Tunisia all have foreign coaches. These teams will be going to the World Cup and we shall be watching the tournament on television. We need to ask ourselves if there is any correlation between the two positions. As we rebrand Nigeria, implement our Vision 20:20, moan over the fact that President Barack Obama visited Ghana instead of us and introduce all other forms of restructuring plans, we have to start identifying the source of our problems. With the Super Eagles, our primary problem is not a disorganised federation, under-funding, corrupt officials or poor infrastructure, it is the head coach. None of our African neighbours who are going to South Africa have lesser organisational and administrative problems than us, yet, their teams are winning and ours is pathetic. Whatever the maladministration of the Cameroonian FA, the players know that come match day, coach Paul Le Guen will come up with sound and confident tactics. Football players like everyone else like to see effective leadership from their managers and playing under a manager who you know more than is a disincentive that no amount of money can address. As 2020 approaches, we have an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past 10 years or so by ensuring that we appear in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. At the very least, the fans deserve that. If we want to realise this dream of being a World Cup regular by 2020, we have to do what is necessary to achieve it. The position of Super Eagles head coach should be outsourced to a world-class expatriate manager until then.
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